John Stone

John Stone is a former Senator for the National Party from Queensland. Prior to this Stone was a Treasury official from 1954, serving as head of Treasury 1979–84. Stone was also Australia’s executive director in the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank in Washington.

Contents

"Joh For PM"

In the late 1980s Stone was a supporter of the disastrous "Joh for PM" campaign, in which some Australian conservatives attempted to make Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen Australia's Prime Minister, but failed badly. [3]

Accusations of Racism

Stone has been accused of being a racist by Professor Robert Manne, of La Trobe University's Politics Department. Manne has written that "The former Treasury secretary John Stone had long been an opponent of Asian immigration. Now the focus of his concern shifted to Muslims instead. According to Stone, Australia was, from the cultural point of view, a "Judeo-Christian" country. Because of its supposed incompatibility with such a culture, he argued that all Muslim immigration must end.

"Stone was aware, of course, that on account of his suggestion he would be accused of racism. Such accusations were, he claimed, both mischievous and wrong. He had no interest in the colour of a potential migrant's skin. The only issue which concerned him was "culture" and not "race". In light of the academic definition of new racism, Stone and his supporters unwittingly supplied an almost perfect textbook case." [4]